Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Budding artists

I have a confession to make: Last week I gave the Fab Four crayons—for the first time ever. Yes, I, the girl who once dreamed of becoming an artist, waited almost 20 months to introduce my own children to the joys of coloring. My only excuses are that (a) until recently it's been difficult to fit anything "extra" into our schedule, and (b) I was afraid of the mess. I mean, think about it: four toddlers indiscriminately wielding multicolored sticks of wax? Shudder!

But it turns out that adding the occasional après-snack coloring session has been a great way to inject some much-needed variety into our routine. The kids love it, and I thoroughly enjoy seeing them explore their newfound ability to scribble. And with the proper precautions—kids strapped into the feeding table, oversize sheets of paper taped down in front of them, and washable crayons—the mess is minimal!

First time coloring(l to r: Lucy, Isaac, Jude, Dahlia)

Naturally, I saved samples of the Fab Four's first artistic endeavors—in my eyes, these scribbles are irreplaceable works of art:

So cute!! I'm just as bad. We went out to lunch a couple of months ago and they gave the kids crayons. I realized that was their first time coloring- At Big Boy's!!! I was so ashamed. It's just a much bigger undertaking with eight little hands to watch.

Glad they enjoyed it so much. You will definitely need to save those pictures. You really could frame them and hang them somewhere.

Don't feel too bad, I occasionally would try with Brooke and she would just (and mostly still) eat the crayons. Actually one day I was changing a poopy diaper and panicked, "OH MY GOSH, my child is dying! Her poop is all bloody!" But then I remembered she ate a magenta crayon the day before. Thank goodness!

I didn't know that you lived in Indiana! I don't know why I was certain you lived out west somewhere. Yeah, the Reds should have tipped me off. Where are you in Indiana? We want to take a long weekend and visit Indianapolis. See the children's museum and the zoo.